Mindfulness

When practiced over long periods of time (>16 weeks), mindfulness positively impacts inhibitory processing, in that as mindfulness exposure and experience increases, inhibitory processing is enhanced. Similarly, long-term mindfulness practice diminishes the impact of emotionally-valanced scenes. However recently, more work is underway on how brief mindfulness inductions impact these same outcomes. Across two online pilot studies (behavioral outcomes only) and one in-person experiment (behavioral and neuronal outcomes), how a brief focused-breathing induction impacts response inhibition and the perception of affective words was explored. Findings demonstrate that a 30-minute mindfulness induction produced a diminished Simon Effect, as well as faster processing of neutral and positive words (faster LPP latencies) and less-effortful processing of negative words (reduced LPP amplitudes). How brief mindfulness inductions may impact resting frontal alpha asymmetry were also explored.

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the effects of equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP) on mindfulness, self-reflection, insight, and psychological well-being in an adult veteran population with mental health concerns. Specific aims were (1) to determine the effect of EAP on mindfulness, self-reflection, insight, and psychological well-being in veterans with psychiatric diagnoses or mental health concerns; and (2) to describe the relationship of the sociodemographic characteristics (age, ethnicity, gender, education level, income, and deployment history) to mindfulness, self-reflection, insight, and psychological well-being of adult veterans with mental health concerns engaged in EAP. Smith’s (1999) theory of unitary caring provided the guiding theoretical and conceptual framework for the study.
A convenience sampling design was used to recruit 18 participants from a South Florida therapeutic riding center and an online veterans’ forum. The sample consisted of adult veterans ages 18 years and older who had mental health concerns and/or diagnoses. Assignment to the EAP group (n=9) was determined by the therapy center director based on session days and times and participant availability. The comparison group (n=9) received their treatment as usual.

Recent research has shown mindfulness practices to be correlated with traits frequently associated with high Executive Functioning (EF) individuals such as greater attention to specific tasks, greater working memory capacity, and the improved ability to inhibit behaviors or emotions. These three traits are highly correlated with each other, and provide an accurate assessment of an individual’s level of Executive Functioning. This study was designed to examine how individual traits associated with Mindfulness such as ‘non-judgement’ can influence attention, working memory and inhibition. This study used three self-administered questionnaires to assess traits associated with mindful individuals and three EF tests to measure performance in inhibition, task shifting and updating working memory tasks. Results showed that certain mindfulness variables from the Freberg Mindfulness Inventory and Five Facet Mindfulness Questioniare, were correlated with performance on working memory tasks while mindfulness experience was not.